he left the 49ers in 1977. police this morning try to put together pieces in a deadly attack of an elderly newspaper vendor in san francisco for the last 30 years. christie smith is live near the montgomery station where that man was selling newspapers. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. he had sold newspapers around here for years. people may not know him by name, but they know his face, they know who he is. they like him a lot. it was this time of day, around 11:00 in the morning when he was attacked and has died from his injuries. james miller now works the newsstand near the montgomery b.a.r.t. station where dallas used to sit. >> he was a really sweet man. he always helped those around him, whoever needed it.

he always helped me and i always helped him. he did lead a quiet life. >> reporter: at 77 years old, he sold the chronicle and other papers for decades. >> the victim was working, had taken a break on the sidewalk, a suspect approached him, said something to the victim then put him down on the concrete. >> reporter: he suffered hip injuries and after weeks in the hospital, he died. the investigation now a homicide. customers today left flowers saying they can't believe it. >> pretty awful, particularly you know, you don't really expect that in this area particularly. and you know, you hear about these stories of people being pushed in front of trains in new york and that kind of stuff. i haven't heard of anything like this. it's really awful. >> reporter: it was 11:00 a.m.,

the financial district. witnesses got him back on his feet. miller believes ayers may have been robbed. his wall let was missing, but investigators say they don't believe anything was taken. what is gone, the man who loved selling papers and made a lot of friends along the way. >> somebody important in your life, just disappear on you. just kind of hits you right here. >> reporter: now, a number of people saw the suspect walk away. he headed west down market street, but was gone pretty quickly. a white male, about 40 years old. 5'8". wearing a brown sweatshirt and brown pants. friends say he rarely carried cash with him because he had been mugged several times in the past. san francisco police say again, they're asking for witnesses to come forward and checking surveillance tape to see if the assault was caught on tape. live in san francisco, nbc bay area news. san jose police are still

looking for the driver who hit and killed a woman overnight and now, they are releasing more details about the car. the deadly hit and run happened on monterey road at bellevue avenue around 1:00 this morning. police say the woman was crossing monterey when she was hit. witnesses say a dark color eed front end damage failed to stop and took off on southbound monterey highway. now, police tell us it could be a honda accord. they say at 1:00 a.m., it's hard to see details. >> at 1:00 in the morpg, it's hard to see anybody, even if they're dressed in bright clothing and following the speed limit, it's hard to see somebody and stop in time. >> police say so far, there's no indication drugs or alcohol played a role. as far woman killed, officials say she was in her late 40s. her identity has not yet been

released. after vanishing a month ago in peru, we now have what is believed to be the missing couple from the east bay. we found this clip on south american television. it shows surveillance video of garrett hand and jamie neil at a bus station in lima on january 26th. they originally embarked on a cycle ling trip and had been chronicaling the trip on facebook, but on the 25th, their online activity and bank activity suddenly stopped. >> we're asking everyone, we need your help. somebody knows where garrett is. someone is with them somewhere so we need them to call us. we need them to come home. >> family says it's learned the couple may have boarded a boat for an amazon cruise. the state department recently issuing a travel warning that kidnappers maybe targeting

americans in pe ru. a san jose mother is thanking police and the community after she was robbed in front of her children saturday night. she was walking to her apartment with her two young boys when police say a 14-year-old boy pulled out what appeared to be a real gun, then stole her purse. police caught him an hour later. jimenez got her purse back and police decided to throw in something extra. some toys and shirts for the boys and several gift cards. >> i mean, if we do this job to help people out and she's a prime example of a victim that needed help and we all got together and we made it happen. >> it feels amazing. you forget about what happened and makes me feel good. >> a target store that heard her story donated a $100 gift card. >> well, right now, police using

a unique new tool, trying the track down the man accused of shooting and killinging an yo oakland rapper in las vegas. it was a wild scene on the strip leaving three dead, completely shutting down the strip. a picture of a'mare harris will be posted on billboards. police say harris was driving a black range rover late thursday when he shot the rapper. now, the shooting caused him to lose control of the car he was driving, crashed right into a taxi. the taxi exploded, also killing both the driver and the passenger of the cab. in a reversal of fortune, a west sacramento police officer is behind bars facing charges of sexual assault and kidnappi ing. police say he used his position to take advantage of women. they accused alvarez of pulling

women over, then assaulting them. the alleged attack happened while alvarez was in uniform in his patrol car. investigators have identified six victims. some were attacked multiple times. >> i'm just appalled and sickened that someone put in the position of trust would violate that trust. in such an agree jous and despicable manner. >> he was put on administrative leave in september and has been fired from the department. he's being held at the county jail. it is a sign of the economic rebound in the south bay. a project that was put on the shelf during the downturn coming back to life. bob rid el is in san jose with more on the reinjection of energy. bob, good morning. >> you know, for many years, the city of san jose has wanted to

erase this eyesore located in the heart of japan town. you're looking at basically a five-acre patch of old plant growth, weeds and concrete. instead, turned into something like this. these renderings show how this sight might be revitalized. the recession put a botch on that, but now that the economy has improved, the developer is interested in moving forward. today, the city will decide on whether or not to approve the sheet with williams and dane development. if approved, the developer would be able to move ahead with plans to seal a deal, a deal that would sell this lot for $24 million, allowing the developer to bring this place back to life. the plans call for retail, a creative center for the arts, a green space for farmers and 600 apartment units. >> i don't particularly like the

idea of so much wrerental. i'd rather see homeowners. in there, but you know, some things -- i think there is a need for rental housing in the area. >> san jose getting big. a lot of people are here now, so i think it will help this area more. and but it's really quiet. i mean, it's nice right now, so -- >> you're afraid of -- >> yeah. >> too many people? >> yeah. >> this is one of only three remaining japan towns left in the state of california. and this is a very historic site. not just for the japanese historic community. that occupy the area before japan town. >> generations ago, this was the site of san jose's chinatown. you might remember when we covered the excavation of artifacts from the area. in more modern times, this

became is city's corporation yard until '05 and ever since it sat dormant except to host the occasional farmer's market. >> thank you so much. christina loren now here to talk about the blue skies out there. >> in your neck of the woods, where you grew up, wine country, the warm spot. good morning to you. your mind is going to be blown when i show you these temperatures. not yet, but they will be on friday. we've got a live picture here. beautiful, clear. yeah, you can see for ten miles or better. really unusual for this time of year to get that kind of clarity over san francisco. temperatures right now are at 63 degrees in napa. you're at 60 in livermore and 60 in sunnyvale and this is one of the cooler days of the week. as we head towards friday, we're talking about the mid to upper 70s. just to indicate how likely that has to happen, los angeles is going to hit about 85 degrees on

friday. so it's too hot for them and just right for us. >> we have a full moon. we have the full sunshine. our cup run et over. beautiful. thank you very much. still ahead, it was a deadly drop. we'll tell you how a hot air balloon full of tourists falls from the sky overnight. and embattled olympian oscar pistorius decides to honor the woman he's killed. we'll tell you what he did today. more good news on the state of the housing market and house prices. we'll take a look coming up in business news. ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] now's the time to add some beauty to your yard, get 5 annuals for just $5 at lowe's today. a freak accident involving a hot air balloon over egypt kills 19 tourists. a security official says there was a fire and an explosion, forcing the balloon to suddenly dive from the sky, landing in a sugar cane field near the ancient city of luxor.

we have video of the field where the balloon reportedly crashed. the tourists were from hong kong, japan, britain and france. two tourists still have not been identified. one egyptian and one foreigner did manage to survive. both right now listed in critical condition. new this morning. another memorial service for reeva steenkamp was held in south africa today. this one was hosted by the man who killed her, her boyfriend, oscar pistorius. the olympian specifically requested the service quote as he are remains in deep mourning for the loss of his partner, reeva, end quote. it took place at his uncle's home where he has been staying. he is awaiting trial on a premeditated murder charge for the death of the 29-year-old model. he says he shot and killed her inside his home, thinking she was an intruder. the next quourt date is in june. home prices in america rose

last year. in san francisco alone, that market up a staggering 14%. scott mcgrew joins us now and this is very good, but still very far away from that peak. >> keep in mind, you don't necessarily want house prices to hit that peak again. still, about 29% off the bubble peak right now. that said, house prices are on the move. kay schiller, a widely watched index, says san francisco the is the second fastest growing market behind denver. the south bay may be rising faster. kay schiller doesn't consider san jose and the suburbs to be part of that measurement area. ben bernanke is testifying before congress over the next two days. he says with unemployment high and inflation low, the fed will continue to be very easy. he says if the sequester goes through on friday, it will knock 1.5% off our gdp and a renewed

push to morning to teach our kids computer coding in school. a documentary from code.org interviews internet success stories who learned to program computers in high school. each person also remembering his or her first computer. mine was an apple two plus. back to you. >> that's how far back i go. >> good point. christina loren, we are inching closer to nice weather as we inch closer to march. >> that's right. march is on friday and that usually is the max of our warming trend. they say march comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb. look at how clear it is over san jose. great air quality. open up the windows. give your bill a healthy break. temperature this is morning are in the 60s. livermore, 60 degrees.

60 for fair field and 63 in napa. we are going to keep this climb going. all the way through about 3:30. that's when our highs come in. look at the warmth you're getting right on the water. great day for lunch on the bay. as we head throughout the bay, our air quality stays in the good range. that's the case for tomorrow as well. in fact, through friday, even with high pressure and dry conditions and those winds pumping from land, warming along the way. offshore flow means temperatures are going to come up through friday. that's the day if you can, to hit the beach. saturday, not too shabby. 66 in fremont, 70 in concord and 69 in santa rosa, so this stretch will be the warmest of the year so far. when the sun goes down though, temperatures drop substantially. at 7:00 p.m., opening night. the california theatre. i'll be out there. jeff will be out there as well. 58 degrees.

clear conditions and yeah, that's a good time to open up the windows in your home, but you want to close them by about 10:00 once we start to drop into the upper 40s. 200 international films. it's going to be a lot of fun. we'll be talking about it each and every day. harrison ford might be out there, just fyi. 70 degrees on thursday. up to 75 by friday, holding into the 70s for saturday and sunday, not getting that great warm, so if you want to make outdoor plans, saturday's the day to do it. beach day. let's do it. >> this is your third year isn't it? >> i can't wait to see what she's wearing. a symbol of freedom breaks free from its cage at the soop. we'll tell you what wr she was found and how her handlers got her home. dennis rodman debating north

korea. we'll explain in just a few minutes. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios

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with clusters, flakes, and o's. oh, ho ho... [ female announcer ] you can find it on sale now at your local safeway store. we have breaking news out of sunnyvale. a 75-foot crane was lowering metal, somehow, just tipped right over. the good news here, nobody was hurt. we want to give you a heads-up. frances street has been shut down and should be closed for several hours. other large cranes will have to be brought in to try and upright that 75-foot fallen crane. you can see the live shot. that had to be scary watching that fall over. >> just counting their blessings. a bald eagle out for a joyride of sorts is back home on the peninsula.

24-year-old se coy area lives at the museum and zoo. her trainer lets her fly free at a nearby park from time to time, but last weekend, she flew off and didn't come home. >> she took off on saturday afternoon, about midway through flight, so she had maybe half of her dinner and headed north and just kept heading north and heading nord. >> beautiful bird. aiken was able to track the eagle using a transmitter in her tail. after several days, she came in for a landing in redwood city. aiken says she usually responds to his call and food, but takes off every three years or so. he has no plans to ground her. >> it would be tough ground and eagle. a former basketball star polishing up his image. >> why he went all the way to north korea to do it.

he's been described as fl flamboyant or a bad boy. former nba star dennis rodman is in north korea on a basketball camp with the harlem globetrotters. >> international icon. he's traveling with three members of the globetrotters and an hbo tv crew for his brand new show on north korea that will air later on this year. k known for attracting a little controversy, rodman tellinging reporters soon after landing in pyongyang, the country, he was there just to teach basketball and talk to people and he's not there to stir up trouble. it's a feel good mission. spreading some good will. >> good for him. he stands out in a crowd any way. in north korea, hard to miss him.

>> i remember when i walked in chicago, michael jordan international, rodman was second biggest star on the planet. >> he's really a friend of yours. thanks so much for being with us. join us tonight at 6:00. have a good day, everyone.

[cheers] >> whoo! >> whoo! >> okay, guys, i just want to say congratulations on our 50th show! [cheers] that's 50 hours of comedy, over 300 sketches, one unsolved crew death, and an emmy magazine cover story. >> hey, and someone got us booze gifts. >> oh, sweet. >> they're all empty. what the hell? >> congratulations on 50 shows, everyone. enjoy your decorative air holders. you deserve them. lemon, a word. >> it's a pretty lame present, jack. >> cutbacks. our parent company sheinhardt wigs is announcing losses this quarter for the first time since the civil war.

and even i am not immune. i had to let jonathan go today. >> oh, my god. how did he take it? >> better than i expected. >> ♪ can't live ♪ if living is without you >> okay, last verse, jonathan. >> ♪ i can't live! >> i'm warning you now that the entertainment division is gonna come under some very close scrutiny. the days of your wild coke parties are over. >> well, if by "coke," you mean "sodas"... >> i do. it's really bad. it's so bad, the sheinhardts are hiring an outside consulting firm. >> what does that mean? >> it means they're bringing in hatchet men to trim the fat. and on monday, you will have to present and justify your budget to them. can you handle that? >> handle a presentation? jack, i put on a live show every week unless there's wrestling. i'm on it. >> good. i've got some more downsizing to do upstairs so i've got no time for hand-holding. let's get this right. >> i've got some tricks up my sleeve. >> that's my girl. >> no, trix, the cereal. some fell in my sleeve. it's sticking to the fibers. [exciting jazz music] ♪